Balancing Act
by Bohemian.Butterfly
Summary: Balancing your professional life with your personal one is never easy. Especially when your boyfriend and your ex-husband get into a physical altercation in the middle of the murder room. How will Sharon balance her personal life with her professional duties when she is forced to reprimand Andy for his actions?


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or M/C, but if I did, this is what would happen.

A/N: I wrote this fix before 4x11 or 4x12 aired. So, some things (like Andy's broken ribs and forehead scrape and the circumstances surrounding Jack's brief return in 4x12) are a bit AU. This was just my take on where the forehead scrape came from (which was more than slightly inspired by the Sandy fandom's theory about what happened to Andy's forehead) and why Jack was back in the first place. Also, I'd like give a shout out to one of my Tumbler followers, melindathecavalrymay who encouraged me to post this. 

Jack had arrived in town a few days ago. He was there to defend Slider, the man who stood accused of Mariana Rivera's murder. Ever since he had come back to town, Jack had been making work a living hell for Sharon. At every turn, Jack was scheming to try and find a way to get Slider's murder charge thrown out, and was frankly getting on everyone's last nerve. On this particular day though, he took it to a whole other level.

Sharon had just come back into the murder room after finishing yet another interview with Slider and unfortunately, his attorney. As she walked across the room, Jack came strolling towards her and grabbed her forearm in an attempt to get her to stop and turn around. Andy having seen this, immediately stood up. He would have made his way towards them had Provenza not seen what was about to happen and quickly pushed his way in front of Andy as he walked towards Jack.

"I suggest you take your hand off the Captain's arm right now. Unless of course you'd like to be charged with assault on a police officer and thrown into a cell. To which I would gladly lose the key to," Provenza said to Jack.

Jack let go of Sharon's arm.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Provenza asked Sharon.

"Yes. I'm fine, Lieutenant. Thank you," Sharon told Provenza.

Provenza then decided it was safe to back up and let the Captain continue her conversation with their suspect's attorney. Both he and Andy continued to eye the situation closely though as Sharon and Jack continued their conversation across the room.

"There is no way your client is getting out of a murder charge," Sharon told Jack.

"We'll see about that. I'm petitioning a judge to throw out that confession. We both know it was obtained while my client was under duress," said Jack.

"No. That confession was obtained by the book and you know that no judge in their right mind is going to throw your client's confession out just because you make some bogus claim against the LAPD," Sharon replied.

"Oh, I forgot. You're friends with all the judges and you're screwing a member of the LAPD. Hell, you were probably off screwing some while we were still married," Jack shouted at her nastily.

Before anyone saw it coming, including Jack, Andy lunged forward and launched a right hook square at Jack's eye. Jack, realizing what had just happened, retaliated with a punch of his own that hit Andy square in the forehead. It was then that the rest of the squad attempted to break up the fight before it got any worse. Provenza and Sanchez pulled Andy away from Jack while Tao and Sykes grabbed Jack, with Buzz on standby in case anybody needed backup.

Once Sharon regained her composure after what had just taken place before her, she stepped into the space between the two men and said sternly to Andy, "You. Back to work."

She then turned towards Jack and with an even sterner tone and said, "If you have no other business with your client, then I suggest you get the hell out of my division."

With that, Sharon stormed off towards her office and slammed the door shut.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the murder room, Jack had left and Andy was standing in the murder room with Provenza.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Provenza asked him.

"I was thinking that that jerkoff was making totally false and offensive accusations against Sharon," Andy replied.

"And there we have it, ladies and gentleman," said Provenza.

"What? You heard what he said to her," Andy told him.

"Yes. And not that he didn't deserve it, but I also heard you just say that you punched him because he said something mean to your girlfriend," Provenza replied.

"What are you talking about? I never said that," said Andy.

"Maybe not those exact words, but you referred to her as Sharon, which shows me that you didn't punch Jack Raydor just because he said some inflammatory things to your Captain," Provenza replied knowingly.

"So what? Like you said, the guy deserved it. If for nothing else, than for being a huge prick," said Andy.

"Well, if I were you, I'd come up with a much better explanation before you talk to your Captain, or your girlfriend for that matter," Provenza told him.

Andy was about to respond when Provenza interjected with, "Please don't make me resort to having Julio quote stuff he learned in anger management, because I will if I have to. Now, sit down," Provenza told him as he began walking towards Sharon's office, where he knocked on the door before she told him to come in.

"What is it, Lieutenant Provenza?" Sharon asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that I think I finally got him to calm down," Provenza told her.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Could you send Lieutenant Flynn in, please?" Sharon asked him.

"Sure thing, Captain," Provenza replied as he made his way out of her office and back into the murder room.

"She wants to see you," Provenza told Andy.

"What did she say?" Andy asked Provenza.

"Would you just go in there? The captain is waiting for you," Provenza told him.

"Alright. Sheesh," Andy replied as he made his way towards Sharon's office.

Once he arrived and shut the door, Sharon said, "Lieutenant Flynn, please sit down."

"So, we're back to using titles and last names, now?" Andy asked her.

"For right now, yes, because we are at work, and frankly I can only deal with the professional implications of your actions out there right now," Sharon replied.

"Alright, Captain," Andy replied as he gestured for her to continue.

"First of all, you know that I'm going to have to report this to Chief Taylor and you know that any disciplinary action that may be taken regarding this incident will be handled by him," said Sharon.

"Yes. I expected that to be the case. Listen, Sharon, I'll take whatever disciplinary action Taylor dishes out. That won't change the fact that I don't regret what I did out there," Andy replied.

"Do not Sharon me right now, Lieutenant Flynn. Right now, all I can handle is dealing with what this means for you professionally. Are we clear?" Sharon asked.

"Sure, Captain. We'll talk later," said Andy.

"You're free to go back to your desk now, Lieutenant," said Sharon, signaling that their conversation was over.

Andy got up out of the chair and opened the door, making his way back over to his desk.

* * *

That night, Sharon left the office without a word to Andy. He sat at his desk for a while mulling over what he was going to do or say before he gathered his stuff and made his way downstairs to the parking garage.

Meanwhile, Sharon had gone home to her condo after work. She had been upset when she had gotten home and went straight into the bathroom and shut the door. She decided a soak in the tub and some classical music might help her to unwind after the day that she'd had.

* * *

It was about 30 minutes later when Rusty heard a knock at the front door. He had heard Sharon come in earlier and shut the bathroom door and wasn't sure if she had come out of there yet, so he got up and went to answer the door.

Once Rusty unlocked and opened the door, Andy said, "Hey Rusty. Is your mom here?"

"Yeah. Come in," said Rusty.

Andy entered the condo and Rusty closed and locked the door behind him.

"Hey, no offense, but you look like hell. And what's with the shiner on your forehead?" Rusty asked.

"It's a long story," Andy replied.

Rusty, sensing that Andy didn't really want to talk about it, said, "Alright. I'll go tell her you're here."

Rusty made his way down the hall towards the bathroom. He heard the music playing and made sure to knock on the door extra loud so Sharon would hear it and said, "Hey, Sharon."

"Yeah?" Sharon asked as she paused the music.

"Andy's here to see you. I left him out in the living room," Rusty told her.

"Okay. Thanks Rusty. Tell him I'll be out in a minute," said Sharon.

"Okay," said Rusty as he began to make his way back towards the living room.

"She said she'd be out in a minute. I think she was in the tub. All I'm saying is that whatever you did must have really pissed her off. She usually only does that when she's pissed about something," said Rusty.

"Good to know. In this case though, I'd say pissed was the understatement of the year," Andy replied.

"Oh, I see. So, she went all Darth Raydor on you, didn't she?" Rusty asked.

It was then that Sharon appeared in the living room in her robe and said, "No one went Darth Raydor on anyone. What does that even mean, anyways?" Sharon asked Rusty.

"You have this look you make when you get really pissed off. It's kind of scary, just like Darth Vader from Star Wars," Rusty replied.

"Oh my goodness," said Sharon.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to talk," said Rusty as he turned around to walk back down the hall to his room.

"Thanks, Rusty," said Sharon as she turned back around to look at Andy.

"Do you want something to drink?" Sharon asked him.

"Sure," said Andy as he followed her into the kitchen.

Sharon grabbed two glasses out of the cabinet and put ice in them before pouring a glass of water for each of them. She handed Andy his glass before taking her own and leaning her back against the counter across from him. It was a minute before he spoke.

"Listen, Sharon. I'm sorry if I upset you earlier with my actions. Like I said earlier though, I don't regret what I did this afternoon in the murder room. My only regret is that what I did obviously upset you," said Andy.

"Thank you. I appreciate that. You have to understand though, Andy. You can't just haul off and punch Jack whenever he makes asinine comments like that. If you're going to be a part of my life, you're going to have to learn to deal with that. Cause he does that a lot and whether I like it or not, he is Ricky and Emily's father, and chances are you'll probably be seeing him from time to time, whether professionally or personally, on the rare occasions that he actually decides to be there for his children. I don't like it any more than you do, but that's just the way it is," said Sharon.

"I know. I just couldn't stand there and let him treat you like that. Hell, I almost hauled off and punched him when he grabbed you by the arm like that. I would have too if Provenza hadn't stopped me. Then, when he started spouting off those vile and untrue things about you…I couldn't just stand there and do nothing," said Andy.

"I know. I'm not gonna lie, what he said was horrible and disgusting, but I've learned over the years not to let the awful things he says affect me. Cause that's what he wants. A reaction. If I let every awful thing he's ever said to me over the years affect me, I'd be a complete mess. He doesn't get to hold that power over me. What really makes me sad is how little he's been there for Ricky and Emily over the years," said Sharon as a few tears streamed down her face.

"Come here," said Andy as he pulled Sharon towards him and wrapped his arms around her as she did the same.

They stayed like that for a minute before Andy asked, "So, did we just survive our first fight?"

"I wouldn't necessarily call that a fight," said Sharon.

"It felt like a fight," said Andy.

"No, and let me tell you why. This whole balancing work with our relationship thing isn't always easy. You have to understand, as your boss, I have to project an air of authority. I have to treat you just like any other officer, despite our personal relationship. If any other officer working for me did what you did today, I would've handled the situation exactly the same. It has to be that way. Otherwise, it looks like I'm giving you preferential treatment because of our personal relationship," Sharon told Andy.

"I get it and I'm sorry if I put you in a difficult position earlier," Andy replied.

"You don't need to apologize. We're both still learning how to balance our professional relationship with our personal one. It can be a tricky balance sometimes," said Sharon.

"So, even though this wasn't really a fight, do we still get to enjoy the benefits of making up?" Andy asked mischievieously.

"Well…" Sharon trailed off before Andy lifted her up onto the counter.

"You were saying?" Andy asked as he continued to rest his hands on Sharon's hips and inched his lips toward hers.

"I was just about to point out that this whole making up but not really making up thing wasn't a half bad idea," said Sharon before she closed the gap between them and kissed Andy.

Andy returned the kiss before saying, "Nope. Not a half bad idea at all." 

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this fic. Feel free to leave me a review! I'm always open to constructive criticism. Let me know if you've enjoyed reading this fic or not.


End file.
